One of the main applications of an object detection device is, for example, to detect an obstacle in the state of being mounted on a vehicle. When the obstacle ahead is a vehicle, it is desirable to more accurately detect the vehicle and calculate a position and speed information thereof. The calculated position and speed information is used, for example, as an input of a collision avoidance function or a preceding vehicle following function, which leads to more appropriate vehicle control.
A background art in this technical field includes JP 2010-224936 A (PTL 1). This publication describes that “an object detection device, which is capable of accurately detecting an object by accurately grouping distance data detected by a distance detection device, is provided”. PTL 1 describes that it is possible to accurately calculate position and speed information by accurately calculating a region where a vehicle exists on an image using back lamp information of the vehicle.